Preventers

Acting to stop accidents before they actually happen
Preventers are aptly named: they usually are lengths of rope or wire intelligently placed and artfully attached in the right place at the

The simplest preventer is simply a line tied to appropriate hardware on the main boom, then led forward to prevent an accidental jibe.

right time to prevent something awful from happening. In other words, an ounce of preventer is worth a pound of cure.Preventers are, in fact, a measure of a sailor’s forethought and ability to anticipate accidents before they happen. A preventer stops the mainsail from jibing accidentally when you’re on the run, with all the mayhem that that can cause. A preventer holds a dinghy firmly to the cabintop so that it will not be washed overboard in heavy weather. A preventer backs up any other line under great strain so that if it parts, a potential major catastrophe becomes no more than a minor inconvenience.

This drawing shows a more elaborate alternative: A rope pendant with stainless steel thimbles at both ends is permanently attached to the end of the main boom and stowed along the boom. In use, the forward end is detached from the boom and shackled to a preventer control guy, which here is led through a block forward, then back to the cockpit.

Some preventers are permanently installed and known by other names. On a sailboat, for example, there’s the topping lift, which prevents the boom from falling on your head when the mainsail is lowered. But most preventers are temporary and applied as the need arises; for this purpose, a well-found boat always has available a selection of strong lines of different lengths and diameters.

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